73) The Town of Light (2016)

Billed as a psychological horror game, The Town of Light is more of a walking sim with sadly true t life horror elements sprinkled throughout. Truly the most horrifying aspect of the game is the fact that as awful and inhumane as the subject matter is, it's only slightly fictionalized, and depicts the very real treatment of actual human beings. Before going any further, I cannot stress enough how traumatizing and triggering the subject matter of the game is. It depicts some of the absolute worst that humanity has to offer, made all the worse for how normalized and self righteous said treatment was. Some, though certainly not all, of what the main character is subjected to is done with the absolute certainty that it was for the best.

We play as Renee, a former patient of a fictionalized version of the very real Volterra Psychiatric Hospital in Tuscany, Italy. We begin arriving at the now dilapidated asylum as she wanders through the ruins, reliving her experiences. As we explore, we find traces of the past and get to see some of the harrowing events that took place there in the 1940's. We're told, both in files and journals as well as through flashbacks, the events that led to Renee's admittance to the asylum and the horror of what she went through.

We discover that Renee, who had always had a strained relationship with her mother, suffered from years of depression and implied sexual abuse. This eventually led to her being coerced into sexual relationships and becoming, as her mother put it, rather promiscuous. Truly thinking it the only option, her mother has her admitted to the asylum in hopes that she can be "fixed". During her time in the asylum, she is once more taken advantage of sexually by at least one male member of the staff. In addition, the women are subjected to numerous dehumanizing conditions, such as being forced to be naked together and being absolutely forbidden from touching themselves in a sexual manner. These events, depicted fairly plainly and matter of fact, served to both horrify and enrage me in a way that no other game truly has.

Renee eventually meets another patient named Amara, with whom she begins a secretive romantic and sexual relationship. When the relationship is discovered, the two are separated, and we discover medical files that seem to imply that Amara never existed, being only a figment of Renee's mind. This is what she was told repeatedly and led to believe, though her memories of Amara come to her clear and vivid. We later find this to be untrue, as we find Amara's file and possessions, but the implication that Renee's medical record had been falsified is yet another damning reality.

We find further evidence of mistreatment by the staff, including censoring outside communication and hiding the death of Renee's mother. In addition, we get to experience some of the treatments that were employed at the time, such as electroconvulsive therapy and even a first person view of a lobotomy, just in case the player wasn't made to feel squeamish enough. These are all very real procedures that were performed on real people in the name of "curing" them. In reality, the Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, as well as others like it, operated in much the same way as recently as 1978, when laws were passed to bring sweeping reform to the mental health system in Italy.

The Town of Light is a short game that leaves a lasting impact and casts a long shadow due to the very real nature of its subject matter. It's not for the faint of heart, and can be a very triggering experience, but I find it to be an incredibly important and powerful game. Putting players in the shoes of someone who survived such inhumane treatment exemplifies one of the great artistic merits of the medium. It's one thing to read or watch such horrors unfold, but to experience them firsthand, or as close to it as one can in a safe environment, is powerful. As I said, the game made me feel strong emotions in a way that few other games have tried to, and my personal struggles with mental health certainly helped to inform that. The game is rough, raw, and unabashed in how it shows the struggles and treatment of real people, and while I may not recommend it for everyone, I respect the hell out of it.